This place was absolutely beautiful. My hometown is not far from here and there is a swimming hole there that the locals have been trashing lately. This place had minimal trash. Honestly about 3-4 pieces my trail mates and I picked up. The trail is nonexistent but once you get the the location that the cars are parked, the way to the creek is simple. Then follow it down to see the falls. It’s a scramble down the mountain/make your own path type of thing. Great on a hot summer day!

Absolutely Beautiful Hike!!! I would rate this moderate instead of easy. The "easy" rating is misleading. There was also no sight of a waterfall when we went and the trail does not cross over the river like stated. Nonetheless, it was well worth the hike! We hiked in about 4.2 miles and had a picnic lunch at what seemed to be the end of the trail. We then took some time to swim in the river (be careful). We only saw one other group hiking around the same time, and one couple that seemed to have camped out. I would definitely go back and maybe make a mini backpacking trip out of it.

Trail? What trail? I asked in the camp and was told to follow the creek, That we did, through several beat down bandit camps with large fire rings and some trash left by those without wilderness ethics. Plenty of shade, We stayed on the south side of the creek and had no trouble locating the cascading pools above the main waterfall. Despite the lack of defined trail I still recommend this forest stroll for the beauty of the cool (cold!) sparkling and refreshing water. Be sure to supervise young children and wilderness novices around the slippery granite of the cascades. My dog even slid around and looked surprised when he needed help to get back on his feet. Didn't see any snakes, just birds and small trout.

The hike took us about 6 hours from the trail head to Jennie lake. The hike was very strenuous there are some shade parts and some sunny part. We did the loop from Jennie lakes but we couldn’t find the trail that loop around to weaver lake so we had to boulder hop down the mountain luckily I was looking on the map on my GPS to find my way to Weaver Lake

Just wanted to add that Kern River Conservancy and Keepers of the Kern are putting more effort in keeping that part of the river clean. It's disturbing to me that people go to a beautiful place like the Forks and have to leave their trash. we have gotten the river from Kernville to Johnsondale bridge free of trash.

We started from the big meadow parking lot (adds a little more then a mile to your hike- try to find the fox meadow trailhead, spits you out near the trailhead for Jennie lakes) and backpacked in to Jennie lake. The hike there was mainly uphill and took us 4 hours. We reached the lake at 330pm to find three groups already setting up camp, which worried us but luckily there were plenty of camp spots dispersed around the lake we could camp at. The lake was gorgeous and there were tons of trout that we saw! As it got later we made a fire and cooked dinner. It was a perfect one nighter. We left at 830am on Sunday and got back to the parking lot at 1030. The hike back down was extremely easy since it was mostly downhill. Great hike and next time we will do the hole loop!

Great trail to get to some wild trout. Not many people fishing this far up the Kern because of its isolated location. Great trout and great backpacking. The hike out is tough. Leave early in the morning or later in the evening. Pack as light as possible.

Beautiful hike. We slept Friday night at Big Meadows campground and then left for the trailhead in the morning. The hike only took about 3 hours, and Poop Out Pass was not as difficult (in my opinion) as some described. The lake was gorgeous but there were at least six other camps while we were up there. The fishing it great! Caught rainbow trout using Power Bait.

This place was absolutely stunning. When we were here the falls were perfect. The water wasn't too strong, but the rocks are slippery at points. Some people like to remove clothing so keep your eyes out if you have kids! The top of the falls is beautiful and there are several pools to swim around in. Some deeper than others. You can see occasional trout in the streams and deeper pools. We just got home and we already want to go back.

Did a quick overnight at Jennie Lake 13 July. all trails well marked, no snow to speak of. Lake was clear, and mosquito free. Decent crowd for a Thursday. Ran out of time to do the loop via JO pass, but ranger posted info said there was still big snow and fast water up that way.

Would recommend Jennie Lake for overnight backpack, great workout, especially going up Poop Out Pass.

Did this with my 8 year old on his first multi night backpacking trip. He carried his own pack weighs down at about 10lbs. This was the first time To Jennie lake for both of us. Started out of fox meadow. Trail was great until top of poop out pass then lost trail with snow. Thank goodness for GPS locator on All-Trails app. Kept us in the ball park of the trail as we climbed over snow banks. With all the snow this year the lake was still mostly iced over and any little stream was now a river but we were able to find a nice camp site away from the lake (all lake sites were under snow still) and was only 3min walk to lake where we caught two small rainbows. Had the whole place to ourselves!!!! It was an amazing trip.

I may be a little biased because I patrol this area, but this hike is beautiful, can be challenging, and is sure to give some amazing views. Right now there is tons of snow and the creeks are nearly raging rivers. However, this trail (versus the whole loop) is the best access point to Jennie Lake!

AMAZING! We hiked with two kids 8 and 10 yr old. Keep going past the 1 mile!!! You'll be glad you did. Due to the massive amount of Rain/Snow this year the water level is very high. Extremely beautiful hike. We hiked 5 miles in and there was still more to the trail. Much to do and see. Our favorite parts were the little primitive camp sights along the way that the kids stopped and played in.

I've hiked to Jennie lake but entering at lodgepole on the Twin Lakes trail...its a tough trail approximately 8 miles...if you feel you won't make it over the J.O. Pass you can camp at Clover Creek about 6 miles in and tackle the pass to Jennie lake the next day...I made it in one day before but was exhausted...this lake is beautiful and I only rate it a 4 because I love solitude and this lake is usually pretty busy in the summer...

We pick wild blackberries along Bear Creek Road leading to Balch Park nearly every summer. We haven't been for about 6 years, so we thought we would drive through on our way to Ponderosa to see if there were any berries. I wasn't very optimistic about finding any, given the recent prolonged drought conditions and the late date, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the blackberries bushes were plenty. Unfortunately most berries were dried up or overripe, but persistence paid off with just enough berries in our buckets to make one batch of wild blackberry jam!

I recommend driving up no later than middle of August to harvest a good amount of blackberries at their peak of ripeness! Make sure to wear long sleeve shirts, long pants, close toe shoes and maybe even some latex/rubber gloves as protection against the vicious thorns in the bramble. You don't want thick or leather gloves because the berries are delicate and you will just squish them if you try to pick them wearing leather gloves.

I have a friend that to,d me once about her Balch Park Family camping tradition. They would drive up early enough to stop and pick a bag of blackberries on their way up. She would used them to make wild blackberry syrup and serve over their pancakes for breakfast on the first morning. YUM! What a tradition and what great memories! Something about the labor and pain needs to gather those blackberries just make the reward so much sweeter!

Fishing at Balch Park and picking wild blackberries has definitely been a family favorite!

Going in is a breeze, but the hike out is a challenge. There are great fishing and swimming holes about 3.6-3.7 miles in along the Kern River. At the forks there are many signs of litter and junk leftover from recent others. We arrive on a Wednesday and hardly saw a soul. Left on Saturday morning and saw heaps of groups, fishers, campers, scouts etc. Definitely will come back.